All the things I love to do

Take a peek inside Ottawa’s buildings: June 1/2

Curious what the inside of an embassy looks like? A church? A mosque? The Ottawa Citizen? A museum? Step behind the scenes at over one hundred of Ottawa’s public and private buildings on June 1 and 2 as part of Doors Open Ottawa. It is completely free to participate, first come first served for most buildings, a free bus shuttle drops you off within the vicinity of 50 buildings, and buildings are located all across and around Ottawa proper.

Ever since I moved here a few years ago, I’ve made a point to check out some buildings each year. I’ve had tours of places like:

Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre…a wastewater treatment plant

Embassy of the United States of America (requires pre-registration)

Enriched Bread Artists of Ottawa…which is an art gallery, not a bakery

OC Transpo Industrial Garage

Traffic Operations Public Works

Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Unfortunately, I don’t think the Transportation Safety Board is offering tours this year but it was really cool seeing how they do crash reconstructions (flights, rail). The bus garage was fun because they let you sit on the bus and take you through the maintenance garage, including the bus wash. The Traffic Operations tour was also super fun; you learn about the traffic/pedestrian lights, how they make street signs and paint the lines on the streets.

I love behind-the-scenes stuff and think this is a great FREE event. Grab a map, look at the buildings listing, and plan out your route for Saturday or Sunday (not everything is open to the public on both days). Think about biking or taking the bus.